Greg Darley:

I finished up “Loving God” by Chuck Colson while on our trip.  Chuck has had a great influence in my life.

Chuck quoted John Calvin in one chapter and it has stood out to me in  huge way.  He said, “It is the first duty of the Christian to make the invisible Kingdom visible.”

WOW!  That is awesome.  What would it look like if all Christians made this their first duty?  How would the world be changed?  How different would culture look?

What are the ways that you see Christians doing this?

Here are a few that I’ll bring up:

Free Chains.  Project we started through World Causes trying to stop child sex trafficking.

Eleho: Organization by a friend in San Diego making a difference for the Karen People.

Innocence Atlanta: Friend in Atlanta trying to end sex trafficking within the city.

Fermi Project: A group trying to help Christians impact and influence culture

Prison Fellowship: organization by Chuck trying to bring truth into prisons.

Ethur: creative group dealing with issues like character and consumerism.

What are some ways or people you know trying to make the invisible kingdom known?

Chuck’s Breakpoint commentary today was very intriguing. He was talking about the effect that biofules like ethonol were having on food prices around the world. Consider this:

-In the United States, egg prices are up 35 percent; milk up 23 percent; and bread up 16. For most Americans, who on average spend 10 percent of their income on food, these increases squeeze our budgets.

-In countries like Ethiopia and Bangladesh, people can spend 70 percent of their income on food; so even modest increases in food prices can impair their ability to feed their families. And price increases for the staples they depend on have not been modest: Wheat prices have doubled and corn prices quadrupled in the last year

-It takes 510 pounds of corn to make 13 gallons of ethanol—that amount could “feed a child in Zambia or Mexico for a year,” while it fuels your car only for a week.

How does this affect your thinking on biofules? Do you think that our lifestyles directly affect those around the world?  What does your worldview put first, people, economy, environment, or something else?

Comments?

Be sure to read the commentary.

Chuck Colson mentions David Woodward of Clemson University in his Break Point article today. I bring this up for two reasons, one, to mention my beloved Clemson (even though its not in the best context, I still love Clemson, for God really met me there) and two because Chuck’s teaching has impacted me greatly.

Chuck praises Woodward for speaking up for what he believed in, even when “he was denied an administrative position on the grounds that he was ‘ideologically incompatible’ with the values of the university” and was ridiculed my many. But David recognized that a clash of worldviews is under way and the so-called culture war is a war of worldviews.  If you have not read Colson’s How Now Shall We Live?, you need to. It has done more for my thinking and walk with God than anything over the past year. In fact, it prompted my joining the Centurion Program, which I would also highly recommend to anyone who wants to impact our culture for the gospel.